Oregon, 11 other states challenge Trump tariffs in court

Port of Portland

Oregon joined eleven other states in a lawsuit that seeks to block President Trump's tariffs.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed the lawsuit, State of Oregon, et al, v. Trump, et al, in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday. 

The lawsuit contends that only Congress has the power to set and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises under Article 1 of the Constitution; and that the powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act only apply when an emergency presents an "unusual and extraordinary threat" from abroad and does not give the President the power to impose tariffs.

"When a president pushes an unlawful policy that drives up prices at the grocery store and spikes utility bills, we don't have the luxury of standing by — especially when so many Oregonians live on fixed incomes," Rayfield said.

Rayfield was joined in the lawsuit by attorney generals from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

The case challenges Trump's executive orders that seek to raise tariffs on most China imports to 145%; a 25% tariff on most imports from Canada and Mexico; and a 10% tariff across-the-board tariff on imported goods. It also challenges President Trump's plan to massively increase tariffs on imports from 46 other trading partners on July 9.

"Under the Constitution, only Congress has the power to tax and impose tariffs and there is no 'emergency' that justifies the Trump tariffs," said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. "We are challenging these tariffs in court because they are illegal and, as one study concluded, they will 'increase inflation, result in nearly 800,000 lost jobs, and shrink the American economy by $180 billion a year'."

On April 9, Trump paused the tariffs set on April 2 for 90 days saying he planned to negotiate new trade agreements. 

Shortly after Trump announced the tariffs on April 2, yields for highly rated munis declined along with U.S. Treasury yields, Cooper Howard, a fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, said in an April 22 report. After bottoming on April 4th, muni yields moved substantially higher. They have since retreated from their highs, but remain elevated relative to Treasury yields, Cooper said.

The lawsuit follows efforts by California, which filed a lawsuit last week challenging the president's executive authority to enact international tariffs without congressional support, and a lawsuit filed by a coalition of small business owners in the international trade court.

The Court of International Trade declined on Tuesday to immediately block Trump's tariffs in a ruling in the case brought on behalf of small business owners by the Liberty Justice Center. 

The court denied the motion for a temporary restraining order, saying it didn't believe the plaintiffs would suffer immediate harm in the absence of such an order, said Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel for the Liberty Justice Center. "We respectfully disagree," Schwab said, adding it would delay imports, pause operations and harm relationships with suppliers and customers, resulting in irreversible business losses.

The court set an expedited briefing schedule on the motion for preliminary injunction and summary judgment and set a hearing date for May 13. 

The court, established under Article III of the Constitution, has nationwide jurisdiction over civil actions arising out of the customs and international trade laws of the United States.